Revision as of 18:56, 7 September 2014 by Otherarrow(Message Wall | contribs)(A recent policy that hasn't been updated. I included examples because I am dumb and think it would help sell the idea better.)
This page is the Manual of Style for the Megami Tensei Wiki. This page will guide editors on how to properly format articles so they are consistent with many of the similar articles.
Every article should start with an opening line. The first line in the intro should be about the subject of the article, and the subject has to be written in bold. This is only for the first sentence about the subject. Please note that the first line should be written with the definite article and the topic is regarded as a singular entity, except for certain cases.
The definite article (the) and indefinite articles (a/an) should be avoided in article titles except if they are used in an official title/name.
The Japanese term should be included in the intro after the bold subject term within parentheses and included with the romaji, written in italics, e.g. Pixie (ピクシー, Pikushī). Pages that use infoboxes are exempt of this since the infoboxes already have sections for the Japanese term.
When writing the article content, game titles should be written in italics, e.g. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey and song titles should be with "quotation marks", e.g. "Poem for Everyone's Souls".
Articles created should be limited to the Megami Tensei sphere. Creating real world articles must have roots in the Megami Tensei series and/or be entirely Megami Tensei centric.
Use third person; write "the player" instead of "you", of course aside from dialogue and what not.
The language of the wiki is American English; spelling and grammar must be concise and clear.
Refrain from referencing works from media outside of the Megami Tensei franchise (ex. x element is like y element in the z series) unless it is in the Trivia section.
Wikilinking is limited to the first occurrence of the word or phrase, and within the body content. Avoid wikilinking headers.
The Spoiler template should only be utilized outside of mainspace articles. Articles are written as an encyclopedia and will contain as much information as possible. The Spoiler template should be used in blogs or forums where such information isn't likely to be expected to appear.
Names in General
The official English names should be used for articles in all cases Ex. 1. The exception to this is when there is no official English term which will then be substituted for the romanized version of the official Japanese term/name Ex. 2.
Ex. 1: The game "Devil Summoner: Kuzunoha Raidou tai Abadon Ou" should be named "Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha Vs. King Abaddon", while Japanese-exclusive games such as "Shin Megami Tensei Debiru Chirudoren Kuro no Sho" should be named "Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children Black Book".[1]
Ex. 2: "Kotowari" should be "Reason". "Kagenuki" should not be "Shadow Extractions" or "Shadow Pulling".
In the case of multiple character names, titles, or otherwise, the most recent English incarnation should always be used.
e.g. Kei Nanjo is known as Nate Trinity in Revelations: Persona. If this was 1996, the date Revelations: Persona was released, then the wiki would use Nate Trinity for his article. However if this was 2000, Nate Nanjo would be used instead as that was his current English name in Persona 2: Eternal Punishment. As of date, Kei Nanjo is the name used in the most recent English name used in the 2009 remake of Persona and thus the one that will be used.
No abbreviations except for terms that are commonly used in the source material (ex. COMP) or if one is entering information in an infobox such as age.
e.g. Eriko Kirishima is age 17 in Persona but age 20 in Persona 2: Eternal Punishment. For her infobox, it is acceptable to input the age value: "17 (P1), 20 (P2:EP)".
Following game convention, the plural form of Persona is Personas. Persona may be used as well but not Personae.
Tables and Class Codes
For help on creating Tables, please refer to Help:Table
Some information in an article may be attributed to a certain game. These information can be contained in tabulated form that use color swatches to indicate which game the information applies to. Below are a list of class codes that are used for certain games:
The main row is given the color of the game's class code. Text is bold and centered by default.
The main column is given a color distinct from the data cells, by default Black. Text is bold and center by default. This is discounted for tables without a main column.
The wiki uses two classes to create:
a table with main columns using the default "class:table". Encouraged for tables of a particular topic, e.g. tables in Heaven.
a table without main columns using the customizable "class:customtable". Encouraged for lists that don't refer to a particular subject, e.g List of Magatama.
Wordings are in left-alignment, while numbers or very short terms are centered.
All table cells are designed to be rounded at 7px (outer) and 3.5px (inner) by default.
Table borders are optional but not encouraged as it constraints width.
Table captions are optional and helpful if no title headers precede them.
Specific
Games
Each game gets an article. Articles may start with an Infobox if information such as Official Logo/Boxart, Game Information and Release Dates are available. See the game infobox designed for this.
End article with relevant navigational templates. See a list of navigation templates.
Games must be categorized under Category:Games, written at the bottom of the article.
General Sections
Plot - Synopsis of the main storyline. If sections need to be added to explain any of the side story, use subsections.
Characters - The name of every major character that links to each respective characters' pages, along with a short summary of who each character is, particularly including their role in the game in question by being as brief and succinct as possible.
Gameplay - Explanations of gameplay elements, especially those that deviate from the norm (in the context of the series that the game is associated with). With a sharp focus on the latter, this section may alternatively be renamed Gameplay Changes or have a subsection under that name as well.
Etymology - An analysis of why the subject in question is named the way it is.
Gallery - showcasing box art, promotional art including screenshots.
References - Occupied only by the following text: <references/>. Only needed if there is anything in the previous sections that has citations, marked by <ref>link</ref>. Such links will appear here.
External Links - Relevant links to other things related to the game that are official and aren't references or citations. This could be something like the official site, trailers, and otherwise.
Characters
Each character gets an article, including characters with alter-egos even if they only appear in one game. (ex. Yuriko has an article separate from Lilith.)
Protagonist should be lowercase, as in protagonist, except in cases where grammar denotes otherwise such as in the beginning of this very sentence. Protagonist is not a name, and should not be referred to as such.
Articles may start with an infobox designed for the game which the character first and mainly appears in. See a list of character infoboxes by game. Always include the intro afterwards.
The introductory paragraph/line can be as simple as "Ronaldo Kuriki is a character from Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2." Notice how the name of the series he appears in prominently is noted. Additional information on who the character is can be provided but once again, it has to be brief otherwise it is probably information that belongs in other sections of the page.
Article titles for characters should follow the official English name based off their major appearance. Exceptions:
Characters who have never appeared in any official English media, which should follow the official Japanese name of their major appearance.
Characters who are unnamed completely, namely protagonists whose pages should just be titled "Protagonist (initial series)".
Characters who are unnamed in their source material but are later forcibly named in other material in the same continuity (ex. the Persona 4 protagonist named Yu Narukami in Persona 4 Arena).
Characters who have an official, reoccurring nickname and/or appears in their dialogue box (ex. Demi-fiend instead of Protagonist (Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne)).
Relevant navigational templates should be at the bottom.
Characters should always be added to their appropriate categories.
General Sections
Appearances - A list of all appearances the character has made, including cameos. Please note their role (with discretion), especially if the character is in fact a cameo.
The character must make a physical appearance or have a 'talking' part to be entered into this section. Being mentioned by another character or being a palette swap does not qualify.
Profile - This section is synonymous to a Biography section and thus, should be a synopsis of the relevance, actions, and portrayal of the character in the game(s), denoted by subsections. These subsections are named based on "Game Title" and they should never be wikilinks. A bullet list of things like Age, Initial Persona, Weapons, and Arcana should not be included as such information should be relegated to the character infobox instead.
Social Link - This subsection should only appear on Social Link characters. It should detail the technical information on the social link, such as which days the character is available, what level a girl's relationship becomes serious, and which persona is unlocked by the completion of the Link.
Battle - If the character is fought against, include a synopsis of the battle flow of the battle as well as a subsection denoting the game. This section should detail battle information and useful strategies.
Stats - This section should contain stats on the character if such stats are initial, preset, or based around their appearance as enemies, if at all. If the character appears in more than one game, denote it with sub sections.
Skills - Regularly, this information is merged with the statboxes of the Stats section but if stats for the character in question do not exist for whatever reason, then this section exists as a repository for such information.
Quotes - Dialogue from the game, or any variation of it belongs right before the Gallery.
Gallery - Image gallery of the different arts of various demons and characters.
Etymology - An analysis of why the subject in question is named the way it is.
References - Occupied only by the following text: <references/>. Only needed if there is anything in the previous sections that has citations, marked by <ref>link</ref>. Such links will appear here.
See Also - List of links to pages on this wiki that are closely relevant to the page in question. The final section before the navigation template.
If you have any ideas for other sections which you think will help keep things organized and user-friendly, please suggest them in the discussion page
Please see images section on how to use images.
Demons
The introductory paragraph/line can be as simple as "Pixie (ピクシー, Pikushī) is a recurring demon in the series" Additional information may be added to note the origin of the demon, it's common role in games, etc. without going too much in detail where such information belongs in other sections of the page.
Relevant navigational templates should be at the bottom where the demon in question is closely influential plot-wise. This does not necessarily count as appearances as NPCs, having roles in side quests, or being acquired specially.
Demons should always be added to their appropriate categories. Demons should bear the name of their Clan, Race, Class or Order in each respective game they have one. In the case of games with English releases, use the English Race or Clan. In the case of games without English releases, use the English equivalent terms where applicableEx. 1, otherwise, use the Japanese name of the Clan. Do not attempt to preemptively "localize" Races/Clans exclusive to games without English releasesEx. 2.
Ex 1. "Herald" is to be used for all cases of "Daitenshi" or "Shitenshi" unless specified differently by the English release of the game in question. (For example, Nocturne specifies "Daitenshi" as "Seraph" and "Shitenshi" as "Hallel".
Ex 2. Due to the games it appears in being Japan exclusive, "Kyojin" will be referred to as such and not "translated" into "Madman" or "Psycho".
General Sections
History - A demon article should start with this section. This section should be about a demon's actual historical information and be paraphrased and/or cited by <ref>link</ref> right after the sentence that the citation refers to, with no spaces in between the punctuation and the tag.
Appearances - A list of all appearances the character/demon has made. Race, or any of its analogues, should always be included if such information exists as well as their role in the game, if it is noteworthy (ex. Boss, Major character, Ultimate Boss, Final Boss).
Profile - Subsections should exist for each game the demon appears in where critical information, substantial story roles exist for the demon, or simply information that expands upon the demon, revealed in or unique to the game in question. These subsections are named based on "Game Title" and they should never be wikilinks.
Battle - If the demon has a prominent battle in the storyline, include a synopsis of the battle flow of the battle as well as a subsection denoting the game. This section should detail battle information and useful strategies.
Stats - This section should contain stats on the demon. Always denote the stats by a subsection with the game title corresponding to the stats in question.
Skills - Regularly, this information is merged with the statboxes of the Stats section but if stats for the demon in question do not exist for whatever reason, then this section exists as a repository for such information.
Quotes - Dialogue from the game, or any variation of it belongs right before the Gallery.
Gallery - Image gallery of the different arts of various demons and characters.
Etymology - An analysis of why the subject in question is named the way it is. This is usually information that should embedded with the History section though, since names are often related to their origins.
References - Occupied only by the following text: <references/>. Only needed if there is anything in the previous sections that has citations, marked by <ref>link</ref>. Such links will appear here.
See Also - List of links to pages on this wiki that are closely relevant to the page in question. The final section before the navi template.
If you have any ideas for other sections which you think will help keep things organized and user-friendly, please suggest them in the discussion page
Please see images section on how to use images.
Game Order
The Appearance section should adhere to the comprehensive list of Scope provided at the Scope Policy page.
Categories
New users should understand the basic Categories below:
all categories below are sorted according to the game a character appears in. Follow the full game title.
e.g. Category:Persona 3 Character Images
So, for example, Hidehiko Uesugi would have a category of Category:Megami Ibunroku Persona Characters without having Category:Characters. Category:Characters is reserved for the overall root for all characters on the wiki, not the characters themselves. Categories start with the specific article and work their way up to the root category. The same is true of images and other related material.
Images should be categorized in the same manner. Images should not be categorized in general article categories, such as Category:Chariot Arcana instead, it should be in Category:Chariot Arcana Images and Category:Persona 4 Persona Images
An article can carry as many categories as possible, they are not limited to one category only.
Images
For help on using Images, please refer to Help:Images.
No fan art allowed in mainspace articles except for the ones in the Shin Megami Tensei Poster Book.
No images with watermarks.
Images must be scanned if they come from a real life publication, extracted from an emulator if it is from a game, or come high quality if it is from an animation.
Always insert pictures in "thumb" format. Use [[File:Random.jpg|thumb|]] which will align to right side of the line you add this code. If you want to align the thumbnail to left, add a new parameter "left" like this: [[File:Random.jpg|thumb|left|]]. When adding thumnail in the article, be sure to add a proper caption like [[File:Random.jpg|thumb|Caption goes here.]]. Caption tones should carry its weight in terms of information. Exceptions:
The image is (rarely) self explanatory, such as a portrait, a logo or a sprite for a demon who appears in only one or few games.
The picture is being submitted into an infobox, in which case it should not be in thumb format.
Generally, starting images should be placed at the right hand side of an article. Subsequent images should usually be placed right-left-right in zigzag sequence at the editor's discretion.
The punctuation period can be omitted if the caption is a not a complete sentence with complete verb.
Main Images
For games, the English logo should be displayed at the topmost, right hand corner (default alignment of image thumbnail) of the page unless one of good quality does not exist. Otherwise, a clear photo of the latest English boxart of the game takes precedence unless there exists even better official art that depicts the game more accurately (ex. logoless boxart). Vertical pictures take precedence over horizontal. Other releases should be placed in a "gallery" format in the appropriate section.
For all other articles, the clearest, best image should be used at the top of the page and, more often than not, this is the official concept art from art books like the Kaneko Works. If there is a image with a transparent background that isn't a sprite or ingame model, that takes the most priority. All other artwork should go in a section called "Gallery" at the bottom of the page. It is necessary that each image contains a caption worded "[demon's name] as he/she/it appears in Name of the Game artwork came from". Avoid wiki links and bold words, but game titles should be italicized.
Userpage images
Users may use article content images on their userpage freely.
Users my upload up to 5 personal images for use on their user pages only. These images must be categorized under [[Category:User Images]]. If a user wishes to upload more images they must mark old ones for deletion.
Embedding Video into the article can be done in two different ways.
Upload a Theora-encoded OGG video file directly to this wiki and then embed it in the article like adding thumbnail of image file with [[File:Random.ogg|thumb|CAPTION]]. Be sure to compress the video quality properly so the file size is below 10 Mb (Wikia official file size cap for all kinds of file formats.)
Even though .ogv is an acceptable extension of OGG video file, Wikia software is buggy to deal with this extension and your file should be renamed to end with .ogg like the Vorbis-encoded OGG audio file.
Embed the video from Youtube which supports off-site viewing with the following code: <div style="float:right><youtube width="250" height="220">YOUTUBE VIDEO CODE</youtube></div>
Exclude any extensive functional code after the video code itself.
Trivia
Trivia is trivial knowledge that is fact or at least can be alluded to or implied to be as such. Editors must explain thoroughly, without being verbose, why that Trivia is valid if not in the article, then within the Edit Summary. If one provides a citation with <ref>citation link</ref>, then even better. If not, the edit is at higher risk of being undone. Whenever dispute arises on the part of the original editor, please take it to each other's Talk Pages or if necessary, the Forums if the validity of such trivia is in need of discussion.
What doesn't count as Trivia are the following:
Restatement of the plot or details that are prominent in the plot
Restatement of a character's traits that are prominent in the plot
Allusions to characters inside and outside the Megami Tensei franchise that are paper thin. In other words, allusions that rely on similarities centered around:
Names
Personality, especially if they don't focus on characteristic traits
Visual appearances, especially if they don't focus on distinct and unique traits
Common plot elements
Generic attacks
Voices, even if the characters share the same voice actor unless the editor is able to make it insightful (ex. voicing x character helped to voice y Megami Tensei character).
